Game-Haze Days
by PandaRawR
Summary: Rin got a new game thats said to be extremely realistic. When she logs in, she meets Len, who is just a program, but doesn't act like it. Something goes wrong in the game: if you die a certain number of times, the game shuts you out. With Rin having dreams that show her friends dying, she tries everything to protect them. Is this truly just a glitch, or is something evil behind it?
1. Chapter 1: Into the Game

**Hi! I had an idea after watching Heat-Haze Days and Heat-Haze Ib, so I decided to turn it into a new story! Hope You enjoy!**

* * *

**Rin POV**

I slowly opened my eyes. Staring at the pale ceiling of my room, I wondered why I had woken up this early. It was 5:30 in the morning... I never got up this early, unless... Oh shoot! I sprang out of bed.

I checked my holographic calender just to make sure. Yup! August 15, 2XXX! The day that game was going to come out! It has the novelty program that everyone's been talking about, um, what was it? Oh yeah! Apparently, the it can transfer your mental awareness straight into the game, creating a realistic, but virtual, utopia.

Hopping into my DresSer, I quickly set up my outfit for the day. The DresSer, (yeah, I know, it has a stupid name, but it really is efficient.) made a humming noise, then spit me out, me already clothed and groomed. Fit in a comfortable white t-shirt and casual shorts, I raced downstairs, almost knocking over my brother in the process. "Hey! What's the rush?" Rinto called after he had regained his balance. By then, I was already halfway through the door.

"Going to get that new game!" I yelled back, not wanting to be detained any longer. "See ya!" Just as I was about to shut the door, something flew towards my face. Raising a hand, I caught it right before it hit me. An orange.

"Aw. I was hoping it would hit you for once..." I stuck my tongue out. "There's no way my precious oranges would cause me harm! But anyways, thanks!" I ran out.

Sprinting to the town square, I realized that there was already a huge crowd. This early? Some people are just crazy. I tried to look over the sea of heads, but sadly, I was too short. Muttering not-very-nice things about my height and tall people, I settled for standing on a bench a little apart from the mass of people.

Scanning through the horde for an opening, I spotted a head that stood out from the rest with long turquoise hair tied into twin ponytails. "Miku!" I called, trying to get her attention. She turned around and squealed,"Rin!"

Pushing through the people to reach me, my best friend soon joined me on the bench. "You look different," Miku commented, looking at my hair. Ah! I forgot my bow! The DresSer didn't yet have a function for accesories, so I had to manually put on my trademark, white, fluffy bow. With half a mind to go back home to get it, I was about to hop off the bench when Miku noticed the orange I have been gripping tightly. "What's that you're holding in your hand?" she asked, her teal eyes filled with curiosity. "Huh? It's just an orange; you've seen plenty of those at my house haven't you? It's nothing to be so curiou- oh."

Around the orange was a white piece of fabric with a note attached reading, "You forgot this." How did I not notice it sooner? I mentally sent a thank you to Rinto. It was the second time he assisted me; first with breakfast (the orange), then with this. Tying the familliar ribbon around my head, I asked, "What's going on? There shouldn't be this many people at this time."

Miku looked at me, amused. "You didn't know? Do you know the producer of the game, Gumi Shion? Apparently, her younger brother came to introduce the game to everyone." My friend raised an eyebrow. "Also, people are saying that he's really cute."

"Hmm, really? I don't see him... what's his name anyways?" I questioned, paying more attention to my orange rather than my friend's words. Miku thought for a moment, untangling a knot in her long hair. "Um, I think it was... K-k-k... Ka- something."

There was suddenly a loud combined squealing of many girls from the crowd, and I looked up. There was a tall, blue-haired guy that everyone seemed to be staring at. From my angle, I couln't see his face, but something about him seemed familiar. "Ohh. It's that guy from t.v. I think his name was Kaiko or something..." I said turning back to peeling my favorite fruit. I didn't care too much about celebrities and such.

Miku stared at me. "Isn't that a girl's name?" she asked, her eyes glued to him. Now, I could finally see what was in the middle of the crowd. There was a small stage, and on it was a big floating screen with a chair and gaming devices beside it. There was an announcer with a mike, and he was saying while gesturing to the bluette,"-Now we present to you, Kaito Shion!"

Oh, so it was Kaito, not Kaiko. Meh. It's close enough. It was kind of hard to tell what was being said, but Kaito walked over to the chair and sat down, pulling on a strange helmet-like thing. I watched with interest as something popped up on the screen. It looked like the log-in screen of a game. Oh, so is this the demo for the game?

...

...

I happily walked home, carrying my new game. The demo was awesome; the scenery seemed so realistic, and even on screen, you could feel the thrill of going on an adventure, traveling through forests and such. Miku skipped along behind me. We both were going to try out the game at my house, and there could be up to three players simultaneously, so we didn't have to take turns.

I scowled. Even if we were a bit of a distance away from the town square, I could still hear the squeals of the girls fawning over Kaito. "Sheesh. I get that he's handsome, but couldn't they lower the volume a little?" I grumbled out loud.

Miku slowed down a bit, thinking. "Maybe they just can't, even if they try to." she said. I shrugged. "Maybe... but doesn't that mean those girls need to learn self-control?"

**~A couple minutes later~**

At last, we arrived home."I'm back!" I called. "And Miku's here too!" Without waiting for my brother's reply, I headed over to the living room, where it was equipped with a large t.v. set in the wall. Not that this game needed one; the t.v.'s just for others outside the game to see what's happening in it. Inserting the program into a slot in the wall, I let the game load and walked into the kitchen to get a snack. I wasn't surprised to see my brother there, experimenting with food. Seriously, I think Rinto lives in the kitchen.

"Why do you even try, Rinto?" I asked getting a couple of oranges and leeks from the fridge. "We can eat anything we want by the press of a button..." It was true. Our parents are often away from home because of work, so they registered in a food delivery company to get us food any time of the day. Sure, it was expensive, but it's not like we have problems with money.

Rinto huffed, rolling his sky-blue eyes that were identical to mine. "Why do you care anyways? It's because I like cooking."

"Well, it's not like you're good at it or anything." I grinned. "HEY!"

"I will admit, though, your chocolate and orange tart is delicious... but the thing that bothers me is the fact that you use MY hairclips while you cook." My brother never takes care of his hair, so it always looks like he just rolled out of bed. He complains about his bangs getting in the way, and how the only solution to that is to take my hairclips (I don't even know how he found them, since I couldn't) and use them.

Rinto stuck his tongue out at me, then went back to whatever he was doing before. I came back to the living room to find Miku all ready to start playing. "Here." I tossed her the leeks.

Letting out a squeak of joy, she grabbed them and started munching."Ew, how can you just eat them raw?" I asked, starting to devour my oranges.

Miku pouted, then said,"For me, leeks taste as good as oranges to you, and you can't argue, right Rin?" I laughed, then finishing up my snack, picked up my gaming helmet.

"Come on, let's begin!" I exclaimed. Miku, who had finished her leeks as quickly as I had with my oranges, pulled on her helmet-thingy. Or tried to, at least. Her twin tails were too wide for it, so it ended up resting awkwardly on top of her head. "Ahahahaha!" I started to laugh. Then I realized that my bow wouldn't fit either... "Darn it."

...

...

After a long time of contemplating, we just cut out holes for Miku's hair and my ribbon in the helmet, since we both loved our hairstyle/bow too much. "Finally!"

"Hopefully that didn't damage the actual software..." I smirked. "Hopefully not." replied Miku, content with our work.

We both made accounts and logged in. Suddenly, I wasn't in my house, but standing in a field of grass with a soft breeze blowing my hair. "Whoa."

I looked around, staring intently at everything, trying to take in as much as possible. It was impossible to tell if this is a game or not. _Please create an avatar. _A voice echoed from nowhere. Bright floating screens appeared before me, along with a mirror. When I looked into it, the reflection of me was the same as in real life; short messy blonde hair and playful blue eyes. Eh, boring. I turned to the screens. On it were different outfits, anything from flow-y magician-type dresses, to knights' armor.

"Oh cool!" I exclaimed, then started looking over various types of clothing.

Eventually, I decided on an outfit with a short flowing white skirt with a brown shorts-kind of thing under it. On the top, though, I wore armor that was tinged orange and white fingerless gloves that came up to mid-forearm. I had comfortable cream-colored boots that reached my knees, though it was more like leg-warmers near the top. Around my waist, gloves, and boots/leg-warmers were strands of dark brownish-blue cords that wrapped around and tied into a ribbon.

Of course I had my bow, but I also had an awesome sword to use when fighting. I was ready to go. _Please stand by while you are launched into the game._ The voice said.

I waited while my vision blacked out, then slowly started to clear. A new scene was appearing. 3, 2, 1! **GAME START!**

* * *

**Sorry that this is so short... but I hope you like this story so far! Please Review!**

**RAWR TO U**

**~PandaRawR**


	2. Chapter 2: Who?

**Hai everyone! Here's the new chapter, and also, thanks to Ten-Faced and BasementKat for reviewing! They motivated me to keep working!**

**Well, enjoy~**

* * *

**Len POV**

It's dark... what is this place anyways? I can't see, hear, or smell anything here... Who am I? Wait, what am I saying? Of course I know who I am, at least... Well, there's nothing to do here, so I guess I'll take a nap...

Right when I dropped onto my back, my surroundings blurred, then cleared, revealing a bright sunlit forest. Birds sang in the trees, and I could smell the grass I was on. "Huh?" I said, confused. "Ah, whatever."

I laid back down and closed my eyes.

...

...

**Rin POV**

Whoa! "This is so awesooooome!" I called out, running through the woods the game dropped me in. I took a deep breath, amazed that I could actually smell stuff like the trees and such. I slowed down my pace to a walk, admiring the landscape. I didn't realize that I had wandered in deep into the forest until the canopy of leaves above me cut off the sunlight. "What the-?" I looked around, trying to decide which way I had come in from. I had stepped into the part of woods were there were absolutely no roads or trails. "Oh, really?!" I stomped my foot in frustration. I just decided to choose a random direction, so I spun around. I started walking in that direction, but soon, I ran into something. I stumbled backwards as a low growl materialized from the thing I bumped into.

It turned around to face me, fixing its luminescent red eyes on me. It was covered in thick, matted fur, and it stood almost two times taller than me. The thing stalked towards me, swishing its long tail. A wolf. And appearently not just any wolf; a small icon and hp bar floated around its head, reading,"Wolf King, level 10."

What?! Level 10?! I'm barely level 1! I drew my sword uncertainly, not sure whether to fight, or run for my life. I ended up doing both; I took a couple swings at the wolf, then ran as quickly as I could in the other direction. "Ah!"

I soon reached the edge of the trees and I could feel the sunlight again. Not bothering to look back, I kept on running, just in case it was still after me. Suddenly, my foot caught on something and I tripped, landing hard on my hands and knees. "Ow!" I cried, sitting up. "Ow!" something mirrored my words.

"Huh?" In front of me was a boy that looked similar in age to me. But it wasn't just our ages that were close in common. He also had messy blonde hair, not unlike mine, tied into a small ponytail and blue eyes that were currently narrowed in pain and annoyance. "Watch where you're going!" he said, rubbing his side.

I huffed, irritated. "Even if it's my fault for stepping on you, you shouldn't just sleep in the middle of nowhere!" I retorted. We glared at each other until there was a rustling sound from behind us, where the trees are.

In comes the Wolf King, its massive jaws slathering with foam and saliva. "Oh crab." I said. Yanking on his arm, I ran away from the wolf."Run!"

"As if I need you to tell me that!" He yelled, following. Sprinting towards the edge of the clearing, we stopped short when a cliff suddenly appeared in front of us. "Typical..." I sighed.

Turning around to face the King of wolves, I drew my sword, which looked like a toothpick compared to the monster. "Are you crazy? There's no way we could fight against that and win!" The boy said, his eyes wide with panic.

"Well, it's not like I'm going to just sit back and let that thing eat me!" I concentrated on the wolf, not taking my eyes off of it. It started rushing towards us, increasing speed with each bound. Maybe I could throw my sword at it... I took the weapon in my right hand and prepared to chuck it.

"Wait!" The boy called, grabbing my hand. "HEY!" I complained. I didn't want to get killed while holding hands with a GUY.

The wolf king was getting closer, almost close enough to claw us to shreds. "Now!" He yelled, pulling me to the left, out of the wolf's range. The overgrown dog hurtled past us, slipping into the abyss in front of us. Soon, a holographic notice popped up. _Congrats! You defeated the boss! You earned: 100 exp, 250 gold, and rare item: pet egg!_

I stared at the items that appeared at my feet. It was only when I knelt down to get a closer look I realized that I was still gripping the boy's hand. "Let go of me," I said, yanking away. Another notice popped up: _Rin, Level up to 2! Len Level up to 2!_

He just rolled his eyes and examined the loot. "So, I take that you're Rin?" he remarked. Not looking up, the blonde-haired boy went on. "Since we both got 100 exp and 250 gold, how would we divide the egg? Maybe-"

I interrupted. "Hold up!" I held out my hand. "Though I don't particularly want to do this, it's about time for a proper introduction. Hello, I'm Rin Kagami, nice to meet you."

Glancing up a little bit, Len took my hand and shook it. "Um, yeah, I'm Len Kagamine, nice to meet you."

...

Eventually, Len and I decided to keep it fair and determine the egg's owner with a game of rock-paper-scissors. "Yes!" I stuck my hand in the air in victory. "Scissors always wins!"

Len pouted a bit. "Fine, you won this time, but that doesn't mean you're better!" I smirked. "Sure."

I stared at the egg. It was about the size of handball, and was covered in blue and white markings. "I wonder what kind of egg this is..." I said out loud.

My new-found companion rolled his eyes. "You do realize that you can find out?" Reaching forward, Len pressed something in midair and a map popped up.

"Whoa!" I gazed wide-eyed at the map. "I didn't know we can do that!" Len looked at me exasperated. "If you didn't know this, how did you think you're going to log off, Idiot? The map and all of the settings are on the menu page."

"Hey!" I complained. "I would've figured something out by then!" He ignored me and continued.

"Anyways, it seems like there's a town nearby with a egg appraiser."

"Pfft! Egg appraiser?" I laughed. "What is that?!" I headed off toward the south, following the directions of my new-found map. "Well, I'll find out soon enough..."

...

Arriving at a small town made of clustered houses and stores, I ran to the nearest bench and sat down. "Uuugh." I groaned, massaging my legs. "I thought you said, 'nearby' town!"

Len smirked. "I told you not to use up so much stamina in the beginning."

Oh yeah. Even if this is a game, you can still get tired, and you can feel all pain too. I studied my surroundings. An ordinary town, the small, dusty shops displaying their wares in windows, the Non-player characters roaming around.

CRASH! My head whipped around in the direction of the sound. A short, green-haired girl that looked about my age shot out of a window, as if she was thrown. There was a loud thud as she hit the ground.

"Wha-?" I said. I hurried over to the girl's side. She was wearing bright, expensive-looking orange clothes, which was dirtied badly, and she was also bleeding out of her left arm and both of her hands.

"You brat!" An obnoxious-sounding voice called. Out stepped a man two times taller (and wider) than the girl in front of me. He stepped forward, swinging a wicked-looking club studded with- is that wolf's teeth?!

He advanced towards us, the club getting closer with each swing.

* * *

**Sorry guys, for not updating for a looooong while. This chapter was pretty short, but I wanted to add more details up until Rin gets out of the game, but I ran out of time. 'T****ill next time,**

**RAWR TO U**

**~PandaRawR**


	3. Chapter 3: And the Girl is

**Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been updating; I've been really busy...**

**Anyways, answering to reviews!**

**Ten-Faced: The guy is just a random character that will (probably) not show up again... I tend to make up random ocs that show up once and never again quite frequently...(-.-);;**

**Guest: Uh... I'm not sure about what you mean about that... though 1/2 Prince is an awesome manga!**

**Okay then, on to the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own vocaloid**

* * *

**Len POV**

Sure. Rin gets to take care of a hurt girl while I fight a giant guy with a club. Yep. Definitely fair. Do I even have a weapon? I quickly checked my inventory. I groaned, pulling out an old-looking, chipped sword. Seriously, this is all I have?

"Ahahaha!" The man who had thrown that girl out the window laughed. "You deserve that, ya pest!"

The club that he was swinging was now dangerously close to Rin's head. Rin wasn't even noticing him, though. She was focused more on the unconsious girl. "Watch out!" I yelled, throwing a rock. The pebble rebounded off of the man's bald head, momentarily diverting his attention to me. He glowered at me, forgetting about the green-haired girl. I flinched. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea...

"You dirty little punk!" I glared at the man. Dirty? Me?!

He took a swing that I easily dodged, the club sinking deeply into the dirt ground I'd been standing on moments before. "Hey!" I taunted. "I know that I might be a punk, but dirty? You just threw a girl out a window!" I feigned taking a sniff. "And it seems like you need a bath too," I added.

"Uargh!" The man swung his club around blindly, destroying part of the bench Rin and I had been sitting on minutes ago. Though he was stronger and bigger than me, he was also slower, giving me the advantage of speed. It didn't seem like baldie's attacks were coordinated either.

I whipped around the large man, swinging my sword. Amazingly, it didn't break on contact with the weak armor baldie was wearing. Instead, the blade sunk though it easily, digging into the man's skin. He bellowed, clutching his side, even though I had barely scratched him. Baldie fell to the ground dramatically, probably overreacting. "I-I'll get you back for this!" he groaned, pointing a meaty finger at me. "Little brat with a girl's ponytail!" Picking himself up, the man hobbled away, muttering curses under his breath.

"What?!" I yelled after him indignantly. "It's not a girl's hairstyle it's-"

"Techically, Len, I think it is." a familiar voice said calmly behind me. Rin was helping the just-awakened girl into a sitting position, carefully avoiding her wounds.

After I found my voice, I started to protest. "How come I had to do all the fighting?!" I gestured at my sword. "With this junky sword?" As if to prove my point, the rusted metal broke: the top half of the blade sinking into the dirt, leaving me holding a useless piece of metal.

The blonde-haired girl just stuck her tongue out. "'Cuz you're the one who rushed in." I sighed inwardly. What she said was true in a way.

...

...

As soon as the green-haired girl whom Rin and I had saved was healed and able to speak, she explained everything. "I was just walking around in that store when I heard that man talking really loudly and bullying the cashier, so I told him to stop. I don't remember everything that happened afterwards, except for waking up here." The girl said, and I couldn't help but notice how mature her voice sounded despite how young she looked.

"Dang, that guy threw you out the window just because you told him off?" Rin exclaimed. "Also, you look familliar... what's your name? I'm Rin Kagami, and this is my minion, Len, nice to meet you!"

"Hey!" I stuck my hand out to the green-haired girl. "I'm Len Kagamine, who is not-," I paused to glare at Rin, who just laughed."-Her minion."

The girl seemed a bit taken back but soon smiled. "I'm Gumi- I mean Gumiko, um, Megpoid. I hope we'll get along."

**Rin POV **

I was glad that Gumiko decided to travel with me and Len, since the trip to the village from the woods was kind of awkward. I kept on tripping over tree roots, and I couldn't read the map very well, and my companion had only laughed and teased me. I usually got along with guys pretty well, but sometimes, I felt like I just wanted to throw a brick at Len. In his face. Which I almost did.

Anyways, Gumiko reminded me of Miku, and I was sure that I would like her very much. "Hey, Gumiko, do you know where the egg appraiser is?"

She looked at me sort of strangely before something came to mind. "Oh! You mean Luka?"

"Um, can she tell you what will hatch from an egg?" I asked uncertainly. Gumiko beamed. "Yup! And she can also make and fix weapons!"

...

Just as the sun started to sink in the horizon, the three of us arrived at a small shop on the corner of a street. It was called the, 'Enbizaka' and it seemed empty. But when we stepped in, Gumiko called out. "Luka? He-llo?" A woman with long pink hair soon came out from a doorway in the back that was partly hidden by shadows. Her face brightened when she saw the green-haired girl, but scowled when she noticed Len and me.

"Gumi-" the woman, probably Luka, started to say before my new-found friend interjected. "-ko. Yes, I know what you said about bringing in friends this late in the day, but they really helped me out."

Running a hand through her hair, Luka's clear blue eyes softened at Gumiko's pleading face, and in a tired tone, she asked, "So, what do you need?"

...

CLANG! CLANG! A hammer's cry rang through the air. I was watching Luka fix Len's sword; it's been only five minutes since she started, but the once-broken shards of metal now resembled the weapon it used to be. Luka was using a hammer, anvil, and furnace, just like a medieval blacksmith would. At first, the pink-haired woman was reluctant to let Gumiko and me watch, but now, Luka was absorbed in her work, her movements becoming relaxed and fluid with her eyes lit up with excitement. "She really likes her job, doesn't she? That woman, I mean."

I jumped slightly at Len's voice, which came from right behind the chair I was sitting on. "Yeah," I said, my eyes following the motion of Luka's hammer. "I guess everyone has something he or she enjoys doing."

Gumiko, who was sitting next to me, stared at the sparks dancing in front of the furnace, the heat from it bathing her face with a redish glow. "Did you know," she asked suddenly. "That Luka's the only player running a store who's not a npc*?"

Len and I stared at her in amazement. "Really?" we said in sync.

Gumiko laughed at us. "Hey!" we yelled again in unison. "Sorry, it's funny how you guys don't just look alike, but you two act similarly too."

"Anyways, to answer your question, yes, really. I know that she's close friends with the producer of this game, and since Luka knows how to make and fix things in real life, she was allowed to open a store here." the green-haired girl explained.

After our conversation, Luka sent us back into the main part of the shop, since the next step of fixing the sword was dangerous. I wasn't sure what the next step was, but I was pretty sure that it involved fire, water, and a lot of hot steam.

...

We wandered around the store, until Luka was finally finished. "Here." she handed Len his sword. It was totally different than how it looked like before; instead of looking old and chipped, it was now shiny - and extremely sharp too, based on Len's finger after he accidently ran it across the blade.

While Luka and Len were negotiating about the price of the fix, I noticed a dull sound in the back of my head. It was familiar, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it. "Do you hear anything, Gumiko?" I asked my friend, who had been watching the conversation about the price for fixing the sword with interest.

"Hm? Oh, a sound? I can't hear anything; it might be something in the real world calling out to you."

As soon as she said this, I recongized the sound in my head. Rinto! He was saying... something about dinner? "Oh man! What time is it?" I blurted out, catching everyone's attentions.

Luka was the first to answer, glancing at a clock that hung on the far side of the room. "...It's seven-twenty. Did you have someplace to go?"

"Ah, dinner." I said sheepishly. I looked around at everyone's amused faces, then decided to add, "Um... so... how do you log off?"

**Len POV**

Pfft, what? I doubled over in laughter, and I wasn't the only one. Gumiko was practically on the floor, giggling, and Luka looked like she was trying to surpress her amusement, but failed to hide her smile.

Rin huffed. "Hey! It's not like I wanted to wait to start playing this!" She glared at us, but it didn't silence anyone. Eventually, even she cracked a grin. "Okay, fine, I was a doofus for not reading the instructions. But seriously, how?"

It took a while for everybody to calm down enough to tell her, but soon(ish), Gumiko decided to show her. "First, Rin, open your menu."

She did. The green-haired girl pointed. "Do you see that button there? The one right under 'options'?" Rin nodded. "Read it."

"Oh..." with a slight tinge of pink spreading across her face, Rin put her finger over the words 'Log Out.'

I smirked. "Did you even bother checking the menu before asking?" Her loss of words proved me right.

"S-shut up! I was in a hurry, okay?!"

I waved a hand at her. "Yeah, yeah. So hurry up and go." She glared at me and proceeded to log off. "Bye!" she called to Luka and Gumiko.

-_Rin Kagami has logged off-_

After she left, Gumiko turned to me. "That wasn't very nice, you know." I brushed her off.

"It doesn't matter." I said, though I felt a little uncomfortable. I walked past her and handed Luka some of the gold coins I got from the wolf king. "Here. Keep the change."

Luka's eyes widened when she saw the amount of coins. "Hey! I said 50, not 100 coins!"

"Whatever." I walked out into the cool night. "See ya."

...

...

**Rin POV**

I pulled off my helmet/gaming device to see my brother shaking me, trying to wake me up. "H-hey! St-top it R-Rinto!" I stuttered out between shakes.

"Oh, good, you're awake." he said simply. I rolled my eyes at him. "Don't do that again. What if you knocked my head off while I'm in the middle of the game? The only way to get out is to log out, and I can't do that without my head."

He opened his mouth to retort when Miku, also just back from her gaming session, interrupted. "You'd most likely be dead first." She took off her helmet too and glanced at me and Rinto. "Um, Rinto, I'd suggest getting off of Rin. You look like you're about to kiss her with your hands on her shoulders like that."

"Eww!" I shoved him off just as he jumped off, causing a double launch; ending with my brother crashing onto the ground. "Ouch!" he cried out.

Miku cringed. "Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that... don't mind me, please, go on with making out with your sister."

Rinto made a face. "Ugh, no way." I agreed.

...

...

After a delicious dinner and a dessert of oranges, I considered playing the game again, but decided against it, heading instead for my room. As I crawled into my warm bed, my thoughts were filled with the events that had happened today. Tomorrow, I had decided before I fell asleep, I would play the game first thing in the morning...

* * *

***npc-non-player characters, just in case you didn't know.**

**Hey guys! I really, really, sorry that I hadn't been updating for a LONG while. I really can't say that I have an excuse (unless being lazy and forgetful count.)**

**Well, I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas!**

**Yeah... also, as some (most) of you may have guessed, Gumiko is Gumi, but she has a reason for hiding her name... :)**

**Bai!**

**RAWR TO U**

**~PandaRawr**


	4. Chapter 4: Ouch, That must Hurt a lot

**Hey Everyone! Like I said I would, I uploaded a new chapter! **

**To Minako the Dragon Maiden of DW: Yeah, I suspect part of the reason that the game world looks like Second Life is because 1/2 Prince is one of my favorite mangas and it influenced me, but also because I think that if there's going to be a realistic game like this, then I imagine the game will be like this: a fantasy-type game that has swords, interesting clothing that ranges from futuristic to medieval, and random monsters like ogres and dragons.**

**...Hm? Still reading this? Well, go on to the story!**

* * *

**Rin POV**

_I sat up on my bed and stretched, a yawn covering half my face. I looked at my clock. 7:00 a.m. What? I stared at it for a moment, not beliieving my eyes. I usually woke up at 10 or 11, especially since it was summer break. Oh whatever. I decided to go downstairs to get some breakfast._

_Sitting at the kitchen table alone, I took an orange from a bowl that was on the table and started to devour it. I was extremely hungry this morning; maybe an after-effect from the game? The Game! Oh yeah, I forgot about it!_

_Finishing off my simple breakfast quickly, I jotted down a note to Rinto saying that I already ate, and rushed towards the living room. I pulled on the gaming helmet and logged on. _

_Soon, a new scene materialized before me. At first, I was confused, since the place I was in wasn't the woods I had first started in. Then, finally recongizing the room I was in as the main part of Luka's shop, I realized that I was in the same spot as I was when I logged out. Ah, that was reasonable. If I'd just thought about it more, then I wouldn't have been so surprised. I was starting to face palm myself when I heard someone call, "Rin?"_

_I spun around and saw that Luka was standing behind me at a table, carrying a box full of metal. "Oh, hi Luka!" I replied, waving. "What are you doing?"_

_The pink-haired woman glanced down at her box and said, "I was just moving this scrap metal to the back. Anyways, what are you doing here so early?"_

_"Early? How about you? You came here earlier than me!" I exclaimed. Then pointing at the box, I asked, "Do you need any help with that?"_

_She nodded and I came to grab the box from her. "Be careful," Luka warned. "It's heavy and there's some sharp bits in there." I acknowleged that and started to stagger towards the storage room in the back of the store while Luka started to go up the stairs that I hadn't noticed before._

_Right then, I heard the front door open. I also heard someone call in a familliar voice, "Luka? I need to ask you something." _

_I shifted the box so that I could see the person who spoke; Len, to be exact. "Hi Len!" I said, my voice a bit muffled because of the box. I didn't exactly forgive him for laughing his butt off yesterday, but I tried to be friendly. "Luka went upstairs for a minute."_

_Len waved. "Hi. There's a second floor?" He started to walk over me, but got distracted by a glass display of some sort. "What's this?" He leaned forward until the tips of his blonde bangs almost touched the the glass case._

_Suddenly, I heard a strange screeching noise coming from the shelf above Len. I couldn't see what was making that noise, but soon I was able to. There seemed to be a pile of swords, but-! "Watch out!" I wanted to scream, but I couldn't move, much less talk. _

_I stood frozen, gripping the box in my hands, while the swords slid from the shelf, impaling themselves into Len's back. Blood sprayed all over the floor and the glass display he had been looking at earlier. _

_I felt sick, and started to scream, sprinting towards the now-motionless body that lay on the ground. _

"Aaahh!" I flung my arms out, knocking my clock over and throwing my blankets to the floor. I clutched my knees to my chest, breathing hard. Was it all a dream? I shivered, remembering the gory scene before me. It was just a dream, I told myself, but it was seriously scary...

I looked at my poor, knocked-over clock. 3:42 am, it read. I tried to calm down a bit. Maybe I should go back to sleep... I half-mumbled out loud. Deciding to try to get some rest, I buried myself in my blankets and closed my eyes.

...

_I woke up feeling uneasy. What a disturbing dream I had... I thought. Going downstairs to the kitchen, I found no one there, just like in my dream. Okay... a little creepy... but anyways, I grabbed an orange and ate it. Licking the sweet juice off my fingers, I wondered what to do now that I woke up. It was only 7 in the morning... wait, 7? I shook my head. There's some major de-ja-veu going on right now..._

_Maybe I should log in... Yeah! That'll prove to me that it was just a dream and nothing more! Leaving the orange peels on the kitchen table, I ran into the living room. Logging on cautiously, I found myself back in Luka's shop. "Rin? What are you doing here so early?" Luka asked, carrying the same box she had been in my dream._

_"Ah, hi Luka!" I exclaimed cheerfully. "I woke up early today and decided to play!" I pointed to the shelf that held the swords, the same one that killed Len in my dream. "Um, Luka? I don't think the swords over there are safe."_

_Her eyes widened at the swords dangling precariously at the edge of the shelf. "I'll fix that. Can you take this box to the room in the back?" The pink-haired woman asked. I nodded. "But be careful," she warned. "It's heavy and full of sharp pieces of metal."_

_I, again, began to haul the box over to the storage room. Luka organized the swords so that they wouldn't fall and headed upstairs, muttering, "Why did I put those there? What if someone got hurt? I should find a place upstairs..."_

_Soon, like I expected, Len walked in through the doorway, saying, "Hello? Luka? I have a question to ask you."_

_"Hi Len." I said. "Luka went upstairs." He started to walk towards me again, but this time I decided to do something so that he wouldn't stop at the glass case. "Hey, can you help me put these in the storage room?"_

_Len wrinkled his nose. "Can't you do it yourself?" he said, but nonetheless came over and grabbed half of the box from me._

_We moved the box into the room, but just as we lifted the box higher to try to put it on the stone table in the storage room, the bottom burst open and the metal shards dropped and scattered all over the floor. "Oh shoot!" I said, and knelt down to start picking up the shards._

_After a few minutes, Len and I managed to pick up about half of the metal, but I accidently sliced open the palm of my hand on a shard. "Ow!" I looked at my hand. The gash looked shallow, but it ran along the whole width of my hand and was oozing blood._

_"Wait here, I'll look for some bandages." Len said, standing up. He started for the door, then suddenly slipped on a round, tube-like piece of metal. "Whoa!" Len stumbled backwards, falling. As he fell, Len hit his head on the corner of the table._

_"Hey! Are you okay?" I hurried over to him. "Len?" I shook him gently. It was then that I noticed the thin stream of blood running down the side of his face, soaking his hair, turning Len's hair from blonde to red. "Hey!" The blood was beginning to form a small pool on the floor, the scarlet liquid clashing with the soft gray color of the stone floor. _

_"LEN!" _I cried, sitting up abruptly. I knocked my head into a leek. "Ow!" I swatted at the leek, holding my forehead. Wait, leek?! I looked around. I was in my room, sitting in my bed. Next to my bed, holding the leek, was Miku...o. "What the heck are you doing in my room, Mikuo?!"

He smirked. "Hey sis! Rinny's awake!" he called, and in bounded Miku. "Took you long enough! It's already eight!"

"Eight?! Are you crazy? That's way too early!" I exclaimed, then glared at Mikuo, Miku's twin and my brother's best friend. "Don't call me Rinny!"

The teal-haired boy pouted, his look matching his sister's. "Why not? And who's 'Len'?" he asked.

I stiffened. "A kitty that was in my dream." I lied quickly. "It hit its head on a table and died." Both Hatsunes stared at me. "Um... er... then it started singing, 'I'm Magical Kitty Len-Len! I can't die!' Then it came to life. The end."

...

...

The three of us went downstairs for breakfast. In the kitchen was Rinto (Look! I told you he practically lived in the kitchen!), and he was trying to do those cool flippy-things with the eggs in the frying pan while singing 'Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder'. "_Migi kata ni, murasaki chou-_Whoa!" He accidently flung the egg too high and it stuck on the ceiling. "Whoops..."

Rinto turned and saw us laughing. "Hey!" my brother complained. "It's hard to do!"

Still chuckling, Mikuo draped an arm around Rinto. "Well buddy, at least it takes some pro skill to make the egg stick to the ceiling like that..." _SPLAT!_ "Um... nevermind."

The egg had landed on Mikuo's head, and his comment just made Miku and me laugh harder. "At least it was mostly cooked." Rinto grinned.

...

After breakfast, Miku suggested that we play the game. I didn't particularly want to, after my dreams, but I agreed anyway.

"Umm, sure."

* * *

** So that was the ending!**

**Anyways, anyone have a good name for this game? I can't really think of any good names and I'm tired of just calling it 'the game' all the time...**

**...Yeah... that's about all I have to say. I don't know when the next chapter will come out, considering that winter break is at its end...**

**Please Review!**

**RAWR 2 U**

**~PandaRawR**


End file.
